Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mothers Day

with Maggi Noodles and a small picnic.

Friday was Mother’s Day Tea at S’s pre-school. It was a rainy and dull morning but that one hour in her school pepped me up. It has been a year since S has been going to this pre-school and she is comfortable there now, I too know most of her class mates and some Moms unlike last year. So it was a happy one hour accompanied with iced tea and munchkins, it was another thing that S devoured 2 of mine. They then gave us the surprises they had made for us.

I knew about the art, but the cute photo frame made of popsicle sticks and stick-ons with a picture of S in the playground was a real surprise.A day before S had told me, she has a surprise for me at school and she was not supposed to tell me what it is. In the next 5 minutes she had whispered in my ears, that when her teacher asked, “Why she loves her Mommy”she had said “’Coz Mommy makes good food for me” :-)She had drawn me and herself going to the restaurant and eating noodles that apparently I had cooked. Huh ? This girl doesn't want to miss out on the restaurant inspite of Mom's cooking, maybe she likes to have a backup plan.

Today morning, I was expecting a Mothers Day breakfast but I woke up hungry at 6 in the morning and since everyone else was deep asleep I went downstairs, had a bowl of cereal and then came back and promptly went to sleep again.

D and little S let me sleep in late and by the time I freshened up and went downstairs I was expecting a la-di-da breakfast with flowers and what not. There was nothing in view. In fact there was no one in view. Father-daughter were in the basement, the kitchen was bare and no trace of breakfast having cooked could be seen. This soured me considerably and I grumpily sat down with my tea.

Later when D came up and wished me and asked me why I was grumpy, I pointedly asked him that wasn’t he supposed to make me breakfast“But you already had cereal and we were going to go out for lunch, why do you need breakfast again?”, he asked“Because it is Mothers Day”, I said, better to make it clear since men are thick in the head and I had no intention of sulking over this the whole day.“Of course you don’t need that much food” he insisted.Good that he made up for it by getting me Jhumpa Lahiri’sUnaccustomed Earth, else I might have bashed his head.

Little S then wanted to go to the park and I didn’t want to go to a crowded restaurant either so we decided on an impromptu picnic. Since there was hardly any time in hand, I made Maggi Noodles with eggs and some veggies, a favorite in our home like Nupur’s and D made some sandwiches with fish sticks, cucumber and mustard and off we went to the nearest state park where the day turned out to be apparently cold and chilly.

S had fun and I always like a green view better than anything, so it was not all that bad and a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday

How I Make Maggi Noodles

Boil the Noodles according to the package direction. Do not add the spices/seasoning in the packet. Drain the noodles and wash off the starch in cold water and toss with a little olive OilIn a pan, heat Olive oil, add sliced onions and fry till pink. Add chopped tomatoes and sauté till soft. Add an egg and stir to scramble it. Add veggies (carrots, peas, beans or whatever you have, which have been steamed) to this.Add chopped green chillies if your kid is ok with it.Sauté for a couple of minutes and add half of the Masala/seasoning that comes in the packet. Add salt and the Maggi Noodles.Mix well and serve with Ketchup.This serves as a good lunch to be packed for kids too

40 comments:

LOL, so she is eating your noodles at a restaurant? That means she just likes the restaurants for the ambience, but she prefers your cooking... :D That is a great compliment.... Your gifts look so cute... Happy Mother's day Sandeepa!

lucky mommy ... happy mothers day .. that as fun ... restaurant and nodles prepared by you.. :) isnt that a great feeling... i make maggi exactly the way you did ... but avoid the tomatoes...it was so good to see those pics...:)

How cute is that! Happy Mother's Day!I have never made maggi that way; does it taste very different from the standard method ? And why did you use only half the Masala ? It's funny how many different types of maggi that are available these days: rice, chinese,atta, and even sambhar flavored!

This reminds me that noodles made by mom used to be my favorite. Her method was really elaborate: Make 1 pack of maggi separately (standard method). Boil egg noodles with a little bit of oil. Mix this with maggi. Separately make omelette and cut it into pieces. Also separately fry lots of veggies (onions,beans, carrots, cauliflower bits, capsicum). And separately fry tiny shrimps. Mix everything together. It was SO heavenly (and lot of work) and we never added ketchup to it. There is even a funny family story about how two of my cousins (kids at that time) wrestled (literally!) to get more of this noodles :))

Happy Mothers' Day Sandeepa. Ican see your little one is growing up fast, and objectively she is pretty focused..... reason why she loves her Mom.

Jokes apart, I was so jealous to see the green and know you were enjoying the cold chill in the wind. We are scortching in 40 to 42 degree Celsius for past 3 weeks. Schools are closing fast for summer vacation. My little R being in grade 6has got a respite of reduced school hours. So he does avoid the heat at 2pm and suffers that of 12 noon.

I have bought a copy of Unaccustomed earth and is hopeful, next weekend onwards would be able to read it up, once his school closes.

Good Monday morning to ya my good lady!! Looks like you had a fun Mom's day, great art and food too.S and D did a good job!:) Preschool and Elementary kids are more receptive to celebrate, once they get in middle and high school, they are just embarrassed but they will "shoulder hug" ya, BUY stuff instead of art! :DArvind was on call, so we made it to a restaurant, had a decent meal, kids bought me a gift card from the block buster!!;DStill waiting for the Indiana Jones, may be next week.

These preschool teas are the best aren't they? Kids have a way of making you feel special with their cute and fine art. S's art looks

Expecting breakfast from men even on Mother's Day is an exercise in futility Sandeepa :) but atleast D more than made it up with the book gift guess what mine did ;) It poured here the whole day. Maggie Noodles and picnic is a great combo.

MysticYour Mom's noodles is making me drool and with tiny shrimps it would be delicious. I make egg noodles kind of similar way but don't fry the veggies separetely, that would be too much work for us :)

Maggi this way tastes closer to the egg noodles, usually there are no veggies etc. in it right ? Also just boiled Maggi is best eaten hot and cannot be packed for lunch. So if i want to pack a quick lunch for S this is better

The seasoning I used half because S was supposed to have it and also with all that onion, egg, veggies, you don't miss the seasoning at all.

nabanita, jayashreeThanks :)

Srasame with our lib too

ArundatiThanks :)

Eves LungsOnly if it had been warmer. today is worse though, it is pouring and cold

RaagaThanks:)

BWMI envy you, when my Ma talks about the heat, how I yearn for it !!!! I would give anything for a warmer weather right now.So R has morning school ? I used to love morning school, we had to go really early like 6:30 but were back by 1:00, it seemed like holiday

SunitaI am totally awed by the work the pre-school teachers put into this

Ashaif they brought in school-art till High School level, imagine what would happen. Anyway every day these kids bring some art work home, so much paper wasted and I have no clue what to do with 90% of them ;-)You had a great day then, I remmeber the ice-cream maker your kids got you last year

IndoI shouldn't be so hard on poor D actually ;-), the guy has been doing quiet a lot around the house and i better not utter any more and jinx it all

NupurI read one story yesterday and liked it. the settings etc. seem so familiar to me, that I usually like her books, half for the nostalgia I guess

ArundathiCome on, he was thinking of himself ;-) (he eats chicken i guess)

Just stumbled upon ur blog while trying to find an easy aaloo posto recipe. With my mom being out of town I have been trying to cook with disastrous results. Your blog, I am hoping is gonna help me out.

that is so cute Sandeepa. You daughter makes everything special :) Lau Bori aar Lauri chingri too look fantastic! I read Unaccustomed Earth and thought that it was uneven. I loved some stories and didn't think much of others. Happy mother's day!

U R so right about husbands being a little thick in the head regarding days when it is quite obvious that the lady needs surprises....ha ha. BTW, the park looks so green...I wish I was swinging there:) Good post!

what a delightful post! How adorable that she said she loves mom coz u make her good food! :) Love her pic on the swing! Give her a hig from me, will ya?My Mother's day was like me waiting until afternoon & nothing happening & I finally ask Nitin "so, are we doing anything special today?" & he goes "no, why?"! He did take me out for a nice dinner though but I gotta train him for next time! :)

Happy mother's Day Sandeepa.Ram likes maggi too..:).I have to try your way too.Again, me too got that special gift from Ram.It was so sweet.He had written my age as '5' years old..:D.(it was way better than the other mother who got '59' on her poster).Last but not least, left you a little something in my blog come and check it out..

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine